Chapter 167 East Indies in Action

It was August 1874, and the atmosphere in the Spanish East Indies colony was somewhat unusual compared to the past.

Lieutenant Colonel Pascual Severa arrived at the Presidential Palace of the East Indies early in the morning, along with several commanders of the garrison regiment.

"Are you all ready, guys?" Marquis Rogers, then Governor of the East Indies, was staring at the map of the East Indies hanging in his office, smiling.

"The navy is ready and can assist the army in landing at any time." Lieutenant Colonel Pascual nodded and replied.

"We are all ready too. It's time to let these damn natives know who is the real master of the East Indies." The commanders of several colonial garrison regiments also nodded, with excitement on their faces.

Although the main purpose of the Spanish government's troop transport last time was to increase troops in the Congo River Basin, since some soldiers have arrived in the East Indies, their role cannot be wasted.

As Spain's largest colony, the East Indies still has great potential for expansion.

At present, there are still several indigenous forces in the southern part of the East Indies, that is, Mindanao Island, that do not obey the Spanish colonial rule. The largest indigenous force is the Sultanate of Maguindanao.

In addition, not far to the west of Mindanao Island, the Sulu Sultanate is also a place where Spain can colonize.

Further west of the Sulu Islands is the larger Kalimantan Island, which has many indigenous tribes and countries. The southern part is the Dutch colonial area.

In terms of Spain's comprehensive strength, there is no need to be afraid of the Dutch. In fact, the biggest reason why the Dutch can colonize this land is that the overall strength of the Netherlands is not strong, which makes Britain, France and Spain more at ease.

"Very good." Marquis Rogers nodded with satisfaction, placed his baton in the southwest of Mindanao on the map, and said with a sneer: "From today on, the indigenous countries here are no longer necessary. There is only one owner of the East Indies, and that is the great Kingdom of Spain.

The mission of the first and second garrison regiments is to go south to Mindanao and wipe out the indigenous countries here. If anyone dares to resist, they will be executed.

The third and fourth garrison regiments landed in the Sulu Islands with the help of the navy and wiped out the indigenous forces here.

Control the situation in the Sulu Islands After that, some people will be left to guard the archipelago, and the rest of the army will continue to move westward to control the territory of the Sulu Sultanate in the Kalimantan region.

The third and fourth garrison regiments have heavy tasks, and they must fight quickly and occupy the land of the Sulu Sultanate as soon as possible.

If we wait until the British react to mediate, I am afraid that part of the land will be divided by the British. The faster we move, the more land we can get.

I hope we can take down a complete Sulu Sultanate, not the small Sulu Islands. Do you all understand your own tasks? "

Relatively speaking, attacking Mindanao will be smoother. This is already the colonial scope of Spain. No matter how fierce Spain's colonial actions are, other powers have no right to interfere.

But Kalimantan is different. The southern part of Kalimantan is occupied by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the northern and western parts have a large number of indigenous countries and other forces.

Although the British have not yet established the North Kalimantan colony, they have occupied a port in the Brunei Empire.

The Sulu Sultanate borders the Brunei Empire, and Spain's military action to forcibly attack the Sulu Sultanate is likely to attract the attention of the British.

This is not a good thing for Spain. It can only speed up its actions as much as possible and take a piece of land in Kalimantan first.

Being able to expand its colonies to Kalimantan proves that Spain has the right to divide Kalimantan. But if it cannot land on Kalimantan, the future division of Kalimantan by Britain and the Netherlands will have nothing to do with Spain.

Although Spain already has the Philippines, Kalimantan is equally attractive. As the third largest island in the world, Kalimantan covers an area of ​​740,000 square kilometers, while the combined area of ​​Spain and the Philippines is only 800,000 square kilometers.

Spain must participate in the division of such a large territory, not to mention that the resources on Kalimantan are also rich, and it is not a loss to eat any piece.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor." The commanders of several colonial garrisons and Lieutenant Colonel Pascual nodded together and accepted the order confidently.

For the Spanish army, it is not difficult to attack these indigenous countries and forces. Although the colonial garrison is only the lowest-level force in Spain, there are many local indigenous soldiers.

But after upgrading their weapons and equipment, the colonial garrison's combat effectiveness is also at a certain level. The soldiers of the garrison are said to be local natives, but in fact many of them are of Spanish descent and are relatively loyal to Spain.

Coupled with the supervision of a large number of young officers, the loyalty and combat effectiveness of the army can be guaranteed. As long as there is no large-scale defeat, even the colonial garrison will basically not have the possibility of mutiny.

The East Indies are far away from the Spanish mainland, which also has certain advantages, such as the spread of news takes a long time.

Although the British colonies are spread all over the world, the connection between the British government and the colonies is not so fast and effective.

The news around the Philippines needs to be telegraphed to the Indian colonial government first, and then the Indian colonial government forwards the telegram to the British government.

This transfer will delay the time longer, which is also the reason for the time difference mentioned by Marquis Rogers. From the news report to the British government's reflection and order, it takes at least several days to go back and forth.

Spain has every hope of occupying the entire Sulu Sultanate before the British government's order is issued. As long as the goal is achieved, the British government can only pinch its nose and admit it.

After all, the main goal of the British government at this time is not in Kalimantan. Even if Spain can occupy part of the land, there are still Dutch colonies on Kalimantan Island.

Maybe it can also provoke colonial competition between the Spanish and the Dutch, and the British can not only stay out of it, but also watch a good show.

In line with the principle of speed, the four colonial garrison regiments attacked very quickly.

With the help of the navy, the third and fourth garrison regiments crossed the Sulu Sea and went directly to the Sulu Islands, while the first and second garrison regiments were deployed in advance in the eastern part of Mindanao, and followed the order to move directly to the indigenous forces in the west.

There was no radar in this era, and the enemy was detected by naked eyes.

The Spanish army was not polite to these indigenous forces. The first and second garrison regiments immediately suppressed the indigenous forces by force as soon as they found them during the westward march.

The first to suffer were the more loose indigenous tribes. They all existed in the form of tribes, independent of each other, and posed little threat to the Spanish army.

They were also familiar with the Spanish colonists. When facing the steel guns and cannons of the Spanish army, all they could do was surrender.

Of course, there were also stubborn resistance, but their endings were often not very good. In order to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, in the process of suppressing these indigenous tribes, once a tribe that was not very obedient was found, the ending was basically to be completely eliminated.

As the largest colony of Spain, the East Indies still had a lot of reserves of weapons and ammunition. In the process of transporting troops, the transport fleet also brought a large number of weapons and ammunition reserves.

In the process of eliminating the indigenous forces, these transported weapons and ammunition played a huge role.

Faced with the most advanced steel guns and cannons, these indigenous people had no room for resistance at all. Most of the weapons in their hands are cold weapons. Even if there are muskets, there are not many of them, and they are very backward muskets.

These loose tribes have no hot weapons, and it is obviously much easier to eliminate them. In fact, it is not considered elimination, but more like using force to suppress them and forcibly incorporate them into the colonial rule of Spain.

It took only half a day for the indigenous tribes in the western part of Mindanao to be basically occupied. However, the land occupied by these indigenous tribes is only a small part, and more land is occupied by the Sultanate of Maguindanao.

Although the Sultanate of Maguindanao is also a small indigenous country, this indigenous force has certain connections with the British and the Dutch.

Unlike the previous indigenous tribes, the Sultanate of Maguindanao has hot weapons, which come from British and Dutch merchants.

In fact, if you think about it, you will know that the reason why the British and the Dutch are willing to provide these indigenous people with hot weapons is to prevent the colonial expansion of Spain.

Colonies are limited after all. The more land Spain occupies, the less land Britain and the Netherlands can divide.

By trapping Spain in Mindanao, the British and the Dutch had enough time to divide Kalimantan.

In fact, according to the original situation, the actions of the British and the Dutch were still very successful. The decline of the Kingdom of Spain continued until the Spanish-American War, and Spain only barely managed the situation in Mindanao in the past few decades.

The vast land of Kalimantan was divided by the British and the Dutch for a long time. The Dutch therefore established the Dutch East Indies colony, which is a huge land with a total area of ​​1.91 million square kilometers.

That is, the Netherlands, whose local strength is not strong, can get such a large colony under the attention of the British.

If the comprehensive strength of the Netherlands is stronger, it is not easy to obtain such a vast colony.

For Spain, it does not have to fear the British to a certain extent in the colonial competition with the Netherlands in Kalimantan.

If Spain is a powerful power like Germany, France and Russia, the British will naturally be unwilling to let Spain obtain more colonies.

But Spain's comprehensive strength is not strong, and it is just a goalkeeper for powers like Italy. It is also a good thing for the British that Spain has set its sights on the land of Southeast Asia.

After all, the British are more concerned about the east-west gateways of the Mediterranean, Africa and India.

Whether Southeast Asia is controlled by the Dutch or the Spanish, it makes no difference to the British. Because the strength of these two countries is not enough to threaten Britain, it is much better than being occupied by France or Germany.

Let's talk about Spain's actions to suppress indigenous forces.

The actions of the First and Second Garrison Regiments were quite swift. It took only one day to eliminate the loose indigenous tribes in Mindanao and fight with the Maguindanao Sultanate.

Although the Maguindanao Sultanate also has hot weapons, the number is not large, and there is no artillery.

The British and the Dutch are not stupid. They can trip up Spain, and Spain can also cause trouble for them.

It is already a painstaking effort for a small country like the Netherlands to control such a large area of ​​the Dutch East Indies. If Spain deliberately sabotages behind the scenes, it is bound to make the Dutch government even more uncomfortable.

Although Britain is more powerful, if Spain is bent on sabotage, the British will not be able to bear it.

After all, the larger the colony, the more serious the colonial rebellion crisis it faces. Let alone other regions, India alone is enough to give the British a headache.

The Indians' struggle for independence has never stopped, and the British colonial government can only force the Indians to surrender through continuous military suppression.

But the method of military suppression can only solve the problems on the surface, not the fundamental problems.

When nationalism gradually awakens, coupled with the continuous weakening of the British, India will eventually become independent from the British colony.

When the first and second garrison regiments fought with the Maguindanao Sultanate, the third and fourth garrison regiments on the other side had also landed in the Sulu Islands.

The Sulu Islands are controlled by the Sulu Sultanate, and the Sulu Sultanate is the most powerful indigenous force in the Sulu Sea.

So if you want to control the Sulu Sea, you must first control the Sulu Sultanate. If you want to control the Sulu Sultanate, you must control the core area of ​​the Sulu Sultanate, the Sulu Islands.

If the Maguindanao Sultanate maintains a good relationship with the British and the Dutch, then the Sulu Sultanate is another extreme.

As early as hundreds of years ago, Britain and Spain carried out colonial invasions on the Sulu Sultanate.

The territory of the Sulu Sultanate has also been eroded and annexed by other indigenous forces on Kalimantan Island.

This powerful sultanate that once dominated the Sulu Sea is currently no different from other small indigenous forces.

The only thing the Spanish army is worried about is that the attack on the Sulu Sultanate will attract the attention of the British, so that the British will also come to share a piece of the pie.

The British target must be the territory of the Sulu Sultanate on the island of Kalimantan. If the British succeed, it will not be easy for Spain to enter Kalimantan again.

Therefore, it is necessary to occupy the Sulu Islands and transfer the army to the island of Kalimantan before the British react.

Even if negotiations with the British are to be held later, Spain can ensure that it is invincible and thus participate in the division of Kalimantan Island.

In addition to several indigenous forces, there are two more special countries in Kalimantan Island, namely the Republic of Lanfang and the Kingdom of Sarawak.

The Kingdom of Sarawak was founded by a British explorer. After discovering this land, he used various means to conquer the local indigenous people and established his own kingdom.

Because the king of the Kingdom of Sarawak is British, the British are also friendly to this country.

As for the Republic of Lanfang, it is a well-known country. This country has been established for nearly a hundred years and has a high reputation in the local area.

However, the population of the Republic of Lanfang is immigrants from the Qing Dynasty in the north, so the British and the Dutch do not have a high degree of favorability towards this country.

Spain wants to get a share of Kalimantan, and the Republic of Lanfang can also take advantage of it.

It can even cultivate the Republic of Lanfang to prevent the Dutch from making any progress in Kalimantan Island.

The Spanish army is also very familiar with the Sulu Sultanate. In fact, these indigenous countries did not pose much of a threat to Spain. Even the colonial garrison regiments could easily crush them.

The garrison force of the Sulu Islands was not strong. The two garrison regiments landed quietly under the cover of night and soon completely controlled the situation in the archipelago.

The top leaders of the Sulu Sultanate were still in a sweet dream, and their capital had been occupied by the Spanish army, and they quickly became prisoners.

The attack on the Sulu Islands was incredibly smooth, which also made the landing in Kalimantan earlier than expected.

But in any case, the earlier the landing in Kalimantan, the greater hope that Spain had to annex the Sulu Sultanate.

With the help of the navy, the third and fourth garrison regiments left a small amount of defensive forces, and the rest of the troops all went to Kalimantan Island.

If the garrison force of the Sulu Islands is very loose, then the Sulu Sultanate's defensive deployment in Kalimantan is mainly arbitrary.

Perhaps it was because Spain and Britain's colonial appetite was not big before, which gave the Sulu Sultanate an illusion. It may also be that the recent economic crisis in Europe has relieved the top leaders of the Sulu Sultanate.

In short, the defense arrangement of the Sulu Sultanate is a mess, and the quality of the army is ridiculously poor.

On the island of Kalimantan, the Third Garrison Regiment finally encountered a large-scale army of the Sulu Sultanate.

But the Third Garrison Regiment only carried out a round of fire suppression, and the indigenous army over there fled in all directions, as if there was a death behind them.

This scene stunned the Spanish soldiers, and they even forgot to pursue the victory.

However, driving away these indigenous troops has achieved the purpose of the Spanish army. After all, the most important thing now is to quickly occupy the land of the Sulu Sultanate and make Spain's entry into Kalimantan a reality.

The attacks of the four garrison regiments were very smooth. It took less than a week to basically occupy the land of the two sultanates and some indigenous tribes.

In order to ensure the stability of the local situation and prevent the British and Dutch from causing trouble, the Marquis Rogers ordered four garrison regiments to temporarily stay in the area to maintain order and wait for the colonial government of the East Indies to send colonial officials to take over the land.

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